Back When I Was In Elementary School

They didn’t know what learning disorders were and they never tested for them so a whole generation were label dumb, trouble makers, stupid, and lazy.

People think being that being dyslexic words and numbers jumbled up but it is much, much more than that!

Kelly Clarkson tears up after Henry Winkler shares some simple advice for her dyslexic daughter

"The Fonz" has been a dyslexia advocate for years.

UpWorthy 

By Tod Perry

April 19, 2023

Henry Winkler is best known for playing one of the most iconic TV characters of all time, Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzerelli, on “Happy Days.” But at 77, his career is still going strong as he plays acting coach Gene Cousineau on HBO Max’s critically-acclaimed “Barry.”

But success hasn’t been easy for Winkler. He had a challenging time in school as a child because he had undiagnosed dyslexia. The disorder also made it extremely difficult for him to memorize lines as an actor.

“When I was growing up in New York City, no one knew what dyslexia was,” he said, according to The Reading Well. “I was called stupid and lazy, and I was told that I was not living up to my potential. It was, without a doubt, painful. I spent most of my time covering up the fact that reading, writing, spelling, math, science—actually, every subject but lunch—was really, really difficult for me.”

The same for me, I was never diagnosed with dyslexia because there was no testing for learning disorders back then and on my report cards there were comments like lazy on them. Over time I realized that I had dyslexia the symptoms it was so obvious, but like most of us we had work a rounds.

The Mayo Clinic has on their website,

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). Also called a reading disability, dyslexia is a result of individual differences in areas of the brain that process language.

Dyslexia is not due to problems with intelligence, hearing or vision. Most children with dyslexia can succeed in school with tutoring or a specialized education program. Emotional support also plays an important role.

Though there's no cure for dyslexia, early assessment and intervention result in the best outcome. Sometimes dyslexia goes undiagnosed for years and isn't recognized until adulthood, but it's never too late to seek help.

Ding, ding, ding… “problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding)” that is me. Besides the usual jumbling of letters sounds are also scrambled making spelling very hard and using words that sound the same will drive me up a wall.

On another dyslexia website, Dyslexia-Reading-Well…

Quick facts about auditory dyslexia

• Defined by difficulty processing the basic sounds of language (phonemes), sounds of letters and groups of letter resulting in very slow and laboured reading
• Believed to be caused by an impairment in neural processing of auditory information
• Most persons with dyslexia have the auditory type
• Also called audio dyslexia or auditory processing disorder
• Sounds may be being fused, reversed or jumbled
• It is not a hearing impairment

[…]

Symptoms and signs

Not all dyslexics have auditory discrimination problems and symptoms can vary from mild to extreme but common signs include:

Frequently misunderstand what others say

• Have difficulty hearing when any background noise is present
• Often have difficulty pronouncing Ls, Rs and Ths
• Frequently scramble multi-syllabic words (pasghetti instead of spaghetti)
• Difficulty following a sequence of instructions
• Weak auditory memory
• Weak comprehension of something just heard

Boy that is right on! Especially having “difficulty pronouncing Ls, Rs and Ths.” I couldn’t pronounce “poor” (And I still can’t) I had all types of speech therapy in elementary school and junior high school and I could never pronounce “poor” until one day. I was visiting a friend at his road side vegetable stand and he said can you pronounce “pour” sure no problem. So to this day if you listen closely you will hear me say “pour” for “poor” it was an excellent work around.

Many times I get comments about using the wrong words or leaving out words or misspellings on my blog and I get snarky comments. It is like they feel superior because I made a mistake, I think of them as “grammar Nazis” but you know maybe they should stop and think that maybe the person has a learning disorder and they are doing the best that they can.

When I was in grad school, I took one of the few mid-term exam and when the professor were handing them back out in the next class he didn’t give me my test back and said ominously “See me after class.” When I did he gave me a few tests said that I was dyslexic.

In 2005 I went to a fundraiser for GenderPAC down in Westport CT and there I met the mayor of Stamford Dannel Malloy who later became governor of Connecticut. At the fundraiser he mentioned that he said that he was dyslexic. I think those of us who have dyslexia are over achievers. 

The UpWorthy article ends with,

Winkler then looked directly into the camera and shared some great advice for Clarkson’s daughter and the millions who struggle with dyslexia. “How you learn has nothing to do with how brilliant you are,” he said.

[...]

Winkler’s simple message is something everyone should hear: Your ability to learn isn’t necessarily a sign of your intelligence.

And that is so true!